–akis“nuk First NaƟon News

–akis“nuk First NaƟon News
Community NewsleƩer
August, 2014
Items of interest:
Wednesday, August 27:
Band meeting, 6 p.m. at the
Akisqnuk First Nation
Thursday, August 28:
Open house at the Little Badger
Early Learning Centre, 6:30 to 8
p.m. Come out and meet the
new staff
Akisqnuk AGA 2014
Will be held on a weekend in
September. Date to be
determined. Check out
www.akisnquk.org for updates.
Akisqnuk community
event at Lakeshore
September 5
A social event to bring together the
Akisqnuk community, staff, and
anyone who would like to attend
will be held Friday September 5th,
beginning at 1 p.m. at the
Lakeshore Resort and Campground.
Games will be played and snacks
served throughout the afternoon.
Dinner will be served around 5:30
p.m. Everyone is welcome and
encouraged to attend.
Akisqnuk claims
The Specific Claim Tribunal
will hear the Akisqnuk First
Nation’s Elkhorn Ranch and
Madias Tatley specific claims
in Cranbrook at the St.
Eugene Mission Resort, St.
Mary’s Room, beginning at 10
a.m. on September 23.
Council will make the trip
and invites Akisqnukniks to
join them. Travel to
Cranbrook will be arranged
and expenses supported.
More information to come —
check out www.akisqnuk.org
for updates.
Council wants to hear from you
The new council wants your input into matters affecting the
Akisqnuk First Nation. . .
Your input is important to us.
expressing their views.
The Akisqnuk Council has made a
commitment to seek input and
feedback from the Akisqnuk
membership.
In order to let us know how you
would like to give your feedback, we
would like to hear from each of you
(on and off reserve) as to how you
would like to provide your initial input.
We will be undertaking the initial
work to begin follow through on that
commitment over the next few
months. This means talking to as
many Band members on as are
willing to talk to us. Having said that,
we realize that not everyone wants to
have us show up at their door and
may rather that we call and talk over
the phone or use other means of
Would you like one of us to come to
your home, call you on the phone,
would you rather fill out a survey online
or through the mail? Please either call
Yvonne Armstrong at (250) 342-6301
(out of area members can call collect); or email us at
[email protected]. We look forward
to hearing from you.
Environmental work to be done at Akisqnuk
In preparation for self management of Akisqnuk reserve land. . .
As a part of the First Nations Land
Management Act (FNLMA) a Phase I
Environmental Site Assessment (ESA)
of the Akisqnuk First Nation land will
be undertaken in this fall.
Columbia Environmental from
Penticton — a First Nations-owned
company with expertise and
experience in this area — has been
contracted to do this work.
A Phase I ESA involves a review of
available records, a site inspection of
lands, and interviews with willing land
owners, occupants, neighbors and
local government officials regarding
our reserve.
Records reviews and interviews are
used to determine the potential for or
confirm the presence of any
environmental contamination.
Past and present activities — like
dumpsites, industrial sites, or
underground fuel tanks — may have
the potential to negatively affect the
environmental quality of Akisqnuk
lands, as well as surface and
groundwater resources. The
information gained through the ESA
will serve as a step toward getting
the full picture of management of
reserve lands when transferred to the
Akisqnuk First Nation from Canada
under a Land Code.
For more information, please contact
Akisqnuk First Nation Land Manager
Adrian Bergles: 250-342-6301 or
[email protected].
Contracting opportunity
A member of the Akisqnuk
community will be contracted to
work with Columbia Environmental
as it does the Phase I Environmental
Site Assessment (ESA) at Akisqnuk.
This is a couple of day job. For info
contact Adrian Bergles 250-342-6301.
Odds n’ ends
Social Assistance Clients
As of August 1, 2014 the olderstyle status cards will no longer
be valid as primary ID for Social
Assistance clients. Clients will
have to provide the new Secure
Certification of Indian Status
cards, a driver’s licence, or a
passport. If you require a new
status card, please contact
Gayle Michel, Registry
Administrator, 250-342-6301.
BC Teachers’ Strike
In the event the BC Teachers’
strike hasn’t been resolved by
September, Akisqnuk First Nation
staff will work to provide some
programming for children to pick
up the slack. If there is anything
specific you would like to see
please contact Social
Development Manger Dolores
Varga, 250-342-6301.
First Aid
Anyone needing or interested
in taking Occupational First Aid
Level One is asked to contact
Social Development Manger
Dolores Varga, 250-342-6301. The
course will be offered in
September through the College
of the Rockies.
On reserve septic inspections
Akisqnuk maintenance man
Roger Buckman will go around
the community in early
September to check out sceptic
tanks and their covers and see if
any need to be replaced.
Contact Dolores Varga for more
information 250-342-6301.
Help shape Akisqnuk land management
Lend a hand on the Land Code Creation Committee and help
shape the land code as it proceeds at Akisqnuk. . .
Chief and Council are asking
interested community members on
and off reserve to participate in the
drafting of the community’s Land
Code as a member of the Akisqnuk
First Nation Land Code Development
Committee (LCDC).
The LCDC will provide input to Council
and Akisqnuk First Nation lands staff on
the development of the Land Code —
with the goal of developing a Land
Code that will best represent the
Community’s interest and needs.
The committee will sit until the
ratification vote of the Land Code on
the Akisqnuk First Nation, which is
expected for Fall 2015 or spring 2016.
Committee members will be chosen
by the Council. Committee members
must be committed to the successful
development and ratification of a
Land Code for Akisqnuk selfmanagement of Akisqnuk First Nation
reserve lands; be willing to fully
understand the difference between
land self-management under a
Land Code and the land sections
of the Indian Act; and have the
best interests of the Akisqnuk First
Nation and Akisqnukniks at heart.
Reading resource materials
provided by Akisqnuk First Nation
Lands staff (who will help get
committee members up to speed)
will be required. Meetings will be
about once a month, or as
required.
For more information, or to see a
draft terms of reference for the
committee, contact Lands
Manager Adrian Bergles, (250) 3426301 or [email protected].
Please contact Adrian to put your
name forward for membership —
which will be selected by council —
on this committee.
Eva Joseph Society board named
At their July 29, 2014 meeting,
Akisqnuk First Nation Council named
the board of directors to the Eva Joseph Learning and Cultural Society —
the society that oversees activity at
the Eva Joseph Centre and the Little
Badger Early Learning Program.
Beatrice Stevens, Donald Sam, Mary
Jimmy, Marguerite Cooper, and
Maxine Hawes.
The new board has already begun
to meet and will look to continue to
provide high quality programing for
children at the Eva Joseph Centre.
Off reserve housing
subsidy
If you are aged 60 or over and
have rented a home in BC for
the past 12 full months or longer
and pay more than 30% of your
take home pay toward your rent
you can apply for Shelter Aid for
Elderly Renters. For more
information visit
www.bchousing.org or 1-800-257
-7756.
New Relationship Trust
Bursaries
The New Relationship Trust is
currently offering bursaries for
certificate, diploma, and/or
trades programs to interested
and eligible BC First Nations
students.
Twenty five diploma and/or
trades bursaries are available
worth $2,000 each. University
programs do not qualify for this
bursary.
For more information and an
application form students are
invited to visit:
www.newrelationshiptrust.ca/
funding/for-students.
Deadline to apply is September
18, 2014 at noon.
The board members selected were
Hanna Capilo speaks at an event on
August 11 unveiling 18 new affordable
rental housing units in Invermere. Pat
Cope from the Invermere Family
Resource Centre (left) and Aaron
Nicholas stand beside.
The project received funding from the
provincial and federal governments, the
Columbia Basin Trust, the Family
Resource Centre and many others.
- Photo courtesy Angelle Colli
Photos from the 204 Ktunaxa Nation Council AGA
The Ktunaxa Nation’s big annual event was held at Akisqnuk July 16 and 17. . .
Clockwise from top left: dancers perform at the AGA
Powwow, July 16; an honour song is performed for retiring long
-time Little Badger early Learning Program worker Maxine
Hawes, fellow staff member Sandy Kalesnikoff sheds tears of
joy and Chief Lorne Shovar follows behind; youth dance at the
AGA Powwow; Akisqnuk Health Manager Patsy Nicholas and
Councillor Lucille Shovar present Dr. Shannon Page with a
plaque honouring her selection as “Friend of the Ktunaxa
Nation.” Dr. Page has visited the Akisqnuk Health Centre
regularly since 2004.
Akisqnuk First Nation
#3050 Highway 93/93
Windermere, B.C.
V0B 2L2
(250) 342-6301
[email protected]
–akis“nuk First Nation Land Code
What is the development of the
–akis“nuk First Nation Land
Code?
In March, 2014 the Council of the
Akisqnuk First Nation signed on to
the Framework Agreement on First
Nations Land Management.
This opportunity is being pursued
in order that more control of
–akis“nuk land be held at the
community level — instead of by
Aboriginal Affairs under the Indian
Act.
Development of a Land Code is a
step toward modern on-reserve
land management and two other
nearby First Nations have also
recently gone through (or are
going through) this same process.
–a“am ratified its Land Code at a
community referendum in April,
2014 and now has control over its
own lands. And the Shuswap
Indian Band will have a
community referendum on their
Land Code later this year.
For more information, visit the
First Nations Land Management
Resource Centre at
www.labrc.com
What is a Land Code?
As a signatory to the Framework
Agreement on First Nations Land
Management the Akisqnuk First
Nation is undertaking the
development of a set of selfgovernment laws specific to our
reserve that will enable us to better
manage our lands, resources, and
environment under a land code. Our
community-specific land code is the
set of laws that we will develop to
allow us to opt out of the many lands
-related sections of the Indian Act.
What are the benefits of a land
code?
Once adopted by the community by
referendum (the date of which is
likely 1.5 to 2 years away) the land
code will replace all components of
the Indian Act that apply to lands on
reserve (1/3 of the whole act).
This will make the place control of
reserve lands and decisions
affecting reserve land in the hands
of Akisqnukniks (self-government),
resulting in better and more timely
decisions for the community.
July, 2014 How does a land code come into
effect?
The Land Code document will be
voted on by the eligible voting
population of the –akis“nuk First
Nation (age 18+ on the day of the
referendum).
The vote will be held in 1.5 to 2
years from now and the majority of
members who come to the polls will
need to vote for the implementation
of the Land Code. Prior to this time
numerous meetings and consultation opportunities will be provided
for Akisqnukniks to learn more
about the Land Code and provide
feedback on its development.
What else should I know?
It is important to know that the
–akis“nuk Land Code will not
affect:

the Ktunaxa Treaty process

Taxation

Ktunaxa Rights & Title

Land Claims

Certificates of possession
-The final decision on the Land
Code rests with the voters of the
–Akis“nuk First Nation.
–akis“nuk First Nation
What can I do stay
informed?

Ask questions, get the
information you need. Contact
Chief and Council or the Lands
Manager

Remind your fellow akisqnukniks
to get informed

Participate in coming events. We
will keep akisqnukniks informed
with articles in the newsletter,
postings on the website:
www.akisqnuk.org, and special
flyers and bulletins
A Land Code committee will be formed
in the coming months. If you would like
to participate in the drafting of the Land
Code and help communicate its benefits
in your community a place on the
committee is for you. Contact Lands
Manager Adrian Bergles at
[email protected], or (250) 342-6301
ext. 3811 to indicate your interest ASAP.
Through sound, responsible leadership. . .
On Reserve Land
Code Initiative: a
Step Toward SelfGovernance of
–akis“nuk Reserve
Land
Have a question? Just ask us!
Contact the –akis“nuk Lands Department,
Adrian Bergles, Lands Manager:
Phone: 250-342-6301, ext. 3811
Email: [email protected]
Or contact Chief and Council at
250-342-6301
July, 2014 –akis“nuk First Nation Lands Department
Tel: 250-342-6301 ext. 3811
This November, youth from across
Canada will have a chance to share their
thoughts on how the mining industry can
help to build stronger communities.
Nominate an outstanding Aboriginal
youth from your community to
participate on the Youth Panel at the
three-day CAMA conference!
Nominees could win a chance to speak on
the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association
(CAMA) Youth Panel and an all-expense paid
trip* to attend the conference in Toronto, ON
Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association (CAMA) 22 Conference
“Seeking Certainty, Mining New Ground”
November 16–18 at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto, ON
How to Nominate
Youth can be nominated to the panel, or can nominate themselves.
Email [email protected] for a nomination package or
pick one up from your local band office.
Eligibility
To enter you must be:
•19–30 years of age
•Aboriginal descent (Inuit, Métis, First Nation)
•Able to travel independently to and from the conference in Toronto,
from November 16–18
Preference will be given to youth who demonstrate that they have an
interest in, or connection to the mining industry, and who are from
communities where Teck is active.
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2014
*Includes travel, accommodations, meals and admission to all conference events.